Author Archives: Melissa | Growing Green Nutrition

Dinner and a movie

Happy Earth Day!

Last night we hopped on our bikes and pedaled over to Stellina Pasta for dinner.  Sadly, they only had one vegetarian entrée.  When we eat out, we like to order two different things and split them.  With only one option, we decided to just order one entrée and follow up with more food at home.  I must say, the dish was delicious: “Whole wheat walnut Tagliatelle with oyster mushrooms, asparagus and fresh mozzarella in oil butter garlic sauce.”  Mmmmm.  This made the trip well worth it!

With plenty of room for dessert, we ordered the “chocolate peanut butter bomb.”  Eh, rather disappointing.  It was not bad, but certainly not spectacular.  I left wishing we ended the meal after the entrée.  Oh well, live and learn.

I puttered around the apartment for a bit when we got home, then plopped on the couch with my book.  I completely forgot about Food, Inc. until Matthew asked, “When is that thing on?”  Oh, oops!  I fired up the t.v. and ended up catching all but the first few minutes.  I’m glad I watched it, although I have to admit I was wishing for commercials.  I wanted those breaks to get up and move around and do stuff, but I didn’t want to miss anything.  In the end, I remained in my seat for the entire 90 minutes, with one quick dash for water and lip balm.

Like Fresh, I found many parts of Food, Inc. difficult to watch, but that’s part of the point.  This is what’s going on in our food system, this is the food we put into our bodies, that’s how millions of cows and cute, fluffy chicks are treated, not to mention the workers in the meat processing plants.  I love the contrast with Joel Salatin’s Polyface farm.

Did you watch Food, Inc. last night (or at some other point)?  What did you think?

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Image credit to http://www.clarku.edu/tbwa/images/web_pages/Accomplishments.htm

Save the tomatoes

Getting big and looking good
Getting big and looking good

We haven’t had the best luck starting seedlings this year.  In January, Matthew planted cruciferous veggies.  They germinated decently, looked healthy for awhile, and then bit the dust.  We noticed lots of little gnats around the grow trays and thought they might have been transmitting some kind of fungus.

We moved on to warm weather crops (tomatoes and peppers).  Guess what?  The gnats returned!  I investigated and we most likely have fungus gnats.  The gnats lay eggs in the soil, which hatch into larva.  The larvae consider the tender roots of seedlings a delicacy item.

I instituted remediation steps immediately after identifying the problem on Monday.

Step one: Stop the over-watering (ahem, honey) and let the soil dry out.  The gnats and their larvae love really damp soil.

Step two: Work to eliminate the gnats.  There are a few suggestions for this, including shallow dishes of beer or sticky traps (made with petroleum jelly).  We tried both.  Finally, a good use for beer!

Step three: Get rid of the larvae.  This one is trickier.  One place suggested putting potato slices on top of the soil to attract the larvae.  We tried this overnight and didn’t see anything in the morning.  That could mean that 1) the larvae weren’t there; 2) the larvae do not like potatoes; or 3) the eggs are in the soil waiting to hatch.

We started a RIDICULOUS number of tomatoes, most of which are looking pretty good at this point, and I’ll be really upset if we lose them like we lost broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower!

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Info on fungus gnats and how to get rid of them:

http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/a/FungusGnats.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_2101512_rid-gnats.html

Red hot chili peppers (or “Experiential learning”)

In seventh grade, my home economics class made pancakes and maple syrup.  I’m still not sure why we had to “make” the maple syrup, but apparently you can buy some sort of packaged “maple syrup” mix (which I’m sure consists of fun things like corn syrup solids, artificial flavors, and coloring), combine it with water, bring the mixture to a boil on the stove top, and voilà! maple syrup.

Skeptical about this “maple syrup,” I logically decided to taste it before adding it to my pancakes, rather than risk ruining all of the pancakes if the syrup was gross (which it probably was).  Not so logically, my sampling method involved STICKING MY FINGER into the pan of BOILING SYRUP.  The result?  A nice second-degree burn on my right index finger.  I do not recommend this method of taste testing hot liquids, especially hot, STICKY liquids.

I had "E.T. finger" for a number of weeks

Anyhow, last year we bought some locally-grown chipotle peppers.  (Chipotle peppers are just smoked jalapeño peppers.)  We have been slowly working our way through a rather large bag of them, enjoying the rich, smoky flavor they bring to recipes.  Like all chili peppers, they possess a good bit of heat.

Last night, I chopped one of the chipotles to add to a pot of chili.  A few minutes later, I felt an intense burning on the skin directly under my left eye — the skin that I had just rubbed with my unwashed chili pepper hands.  In an effort to alleviate the burning, I washed the area with soap and water, which only served to move the hot pepper INTO my eye.  The next few minutes involved me lying on the kitchen floor, worried that I might go blind in my left eye, with Matthew next to me, flushing my eye with a bottle of saline solution.

The good news?  My eye returned to normal in a relatively short time period.  Lesson learned?  It really is important to wash your hands (and cooking surfaces, such as knives and cutting boards) thoroughly after they come in contact with hot peppers.  And until you can do so, keep your hands away from your face!  Who would have guessed?

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E.T. image credit to this site

New gear

After purchasing a new bike plus accessories, followed shortly thereafter by more accessories (rear rack and panniers), a bit over a year ago, I decided I needed to go on a bike gear diet.  And if memory serves, I did well with that for over a year.

A week ago, I bought a handlebar mirror for my favorite ride, only to find that it did not work at all — with my handlebars and riding position, and the limited adjustability of the mirror, I could not see anything useful!  Today, I swapped it for a slightly different style, and I think I’m in business.

I still find myself looking over my shoulder, rather than looking in the mirror, but I imagine that will change as I get used to it.

In a previous post, I alluded to two bike shops, one with great customer service, and one that often leaves something to be desired when it comes to customer interaction.  To give credit where credit is due, The Hub bike shop earned my praise in that previous post (and continues to do so).